Access 2007: Working with the Property Sheet

Access 2007: Working with the Property Sheet

Throughout various lessons, we’ve occasionally used the Property Sheet to make some design changes. In this lesson, we’ll take a closer look at many of the options listed on the Property Sheet.

I always tell my students that all of the fun in Access can be found on the Property Sheet. Because, it’s the Property Sheet that contains all of the action.

Figure 55. Property Sheet - All Tab

The Property Sheet contains five (5) tabs: Format, Data, Event, Other and All.

The Format Tab

The Format tab contains all of the commands related to the formatting and design of the form including the default view, border style, scroll bar display and moveable setting.

As with each of the tabs in the Property Sheet, you’ll want to make sure you’re viewing the proper form element before making a change. Many of these options will change based on the form or object that is selected.

Figure 56. Property Sheet - Format Tab

The Data Tab

The Data Tab contains all of the commands related to where the data on the form is being pulled from and how a user can interact with that data.

Figure 57. Property Sheet - Data Tab

On the Data tab, you can set the Record Source for the form. In other words, you tell the form from which table or query the underlying data is stored. Remember, even though you can see all of the data in a Record Source on a form, the data isn’t actually stored, or saved, in the form. The data is ALWAYS saved in tables.

The Event Tab

The Event Tab contains all of the commands related to running macros (recorded sets of steps) or Visual Basic code at certain times such as when a form loads or after a form as been updated.

On the Event tab, you can set macros and Visual Basic code that runs behind the scenes in every instance. For instance, if you always want the cursor to be positioned in a particular location or if you want the form to always open at a set size and in a set location on the screen, you can create a macro (or recorded set of steps) to those specifications then use the Event tab to tell Access to run that macro “On Load” or at any other time.

Figure 58. Property Sheet - Event Tab

The Other Tab

The Other Tab contains all of the commands that don’t fit on the Format, Data, or Event tabs such as the Menu Bar display and Printing information.